﻿Lufthansa to continue cooperation with THY

A recent decision to end the codeshare deal with THY will not influence Lufthansa’s overall cooperation with THY, Lufthansa’s spokesman Dunhaupt said.

Economy

29 Kasım 2013 Cuma 09:32

World Bulletin / News Desk

Lufthansa’s spokesman Aage Dunhaupt said on Thursday that their recent decision of terminating codeshare agreement with Turkish Airlines (THY) will not influence their broader cooperation.

“Our recent decision is not about overall cooperation. As Lufthansa and THY, we still have joint venture of Sun Express and both of us are members of the Star Alliance and we work together there,” Dunhaupt said.

Lufthansa has recently decided to terminate its codeshare deal with Turkish Airlines. The deal enabled both airlines in the past to issue tickets on the airplanes of the two companies in pre-determined routes.

Lufthansa’s Aage Dunhaupt claimed that their termination of the agreement has been a “business decision”.

“Over last five years both airlines have expanded a lot and meanwhile THY has the biggest network in the world,” Dunhaupt stressed. “The codeshare is not that important anymore as it might have been five years ago.”

According to the Lufthansa official, decrease in demand of codeshare flights and structural costs involved here have led to the decision to terminate the deal. Lufthansa has also changed its policy for Lufthansa card owners in accumulating miles from their THY flights. From March 2014 onwards, Lufthansa card owners would get more points in their Lufthansa flights compared with what they can get during their trips with the THY.

‘No new negotiations planned’

While THY officials expressed hope that Lufthansa would reconsider its decision soon, spokesman Aage Dunhaupt told AA that for the time being, they “have not found a new way to make this work.”

“We have informed THY a couple of weeks ago about our decision. We have already had talks in general but we have not come to another conclusion,” Dunhaupt said. “You never know what would happen over the next couple of months. But for now we have decided and there are no new negotiations planned. I cannot exclude talks in the coming months, but this is not planned at the moment.”

Partners or competitors?

Recent reports in German press on Lufthansa’s termination of the deal with THY have led to speculations that Germany’s giant carrier has increasingly viewed THY as a competitor rather than a partner.

Asked about this reports and speculations, Lufthansa’s spokesman Dunhaupt told AA that at the end “all the airlines are competitors.”

“If you do not operate a joint venture, where all the money goes to the same pot, then we are all competitors even if you are in an alliance,” he said. “Because you are still battling for the same passengers. What we do is we are always reviewing our forms of cooperation and we have come to the conclusion that it is in our interest in order to restructure this,” Dunhaupt stressed, referring to their recent decision of terminating the codeshare deal.

Still far from win-win situation

Last year Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told press that he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed deeper cooperation between THY and Lufthansa.

Lufthansa spokesman Dunhaupt confirmed that talks had been carried on stronger cooperation but underlined that they could not yield any concrete results.

“Early this year there had been talks between Lufthansa and THY to look into the opportunities maybe to work even closer together,” Dunhaupt said. “ But these talks have not produced any result because there was not a situation where both parties would have a win-win situation. And if it is not guaranteed than it does not really make sense,” he stressed.

Lufthansa plans additional flights to Turkey

While terminating the codeshare agreement with THY, Lufthansa announced that the decision would not have any negative effect for passengers.

“Turkish Airlines is strong in flights to Germany and Lufthansa is also strong in flights to Turkey. That means from both carriers there is enough offer for the passengers,” spokesman Aage Dunhaupt said.

Last year Lufthansa has transported more than 1 million passengers between Germany and Turkey. The German airline has around 170 flights from Germany to Turkey each week.

Lufthansa spokesman told that they are looking into the possibility of increasing flights to Turkey, with additional flights between Frankfurt and Istanbul, but he also added that no final decision has been taken yet.